things i wish i knew
by Immoroita
Summary: she can tell that he's hurting, too. — [blackquills.]


**Foreword: **If I had to sum up my emotions about the Blackquill siblings, it would probably be: [exuberant hand gestures]

This _can _be taken as a companion piece to my other fic, stayed in the darkness with you, but I didn't purposefully write it that way, so take it as you will.

This also includes some dialogue from the actual game, near the end.

Cover image from lacrimode on Tumblr.

* * *

She slaps the tabletop, hard, and feels it creak dangerously beneath her palm as she glares through the glass at her younger brother.

In the background, Detective Fulbright hovers – close by, but not too close, unwilling to interfere with the heated confrontation.

"Simon!" Aura shouts, because she's _tried _to be rational, but he's just being his stupid, stubborn self. "Why the hell won't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Simon says sullenly, and determinedly avoids eye contact.

_Why you didn't kill Metis but took the blame? Why you're okay with dying for something you didn't do? Why you won't __**talk to me?**_

He half-turns away from her, expression unfathomable as always. Aura's hand bangs against the glass as she tries to grab him, and she swears loudly at both the pain and the realization that there's a barrier separating them. There's always going to be a barrier separating them.

"Simon, your execution is _tomorrow_," Aura says, holding the hand that she's just whacked against the glass, and Simon doesn't appear to acknowledge her words, but Aura, well-trained in the art of reading her brother's emotions, sees his left eye twitch in the telltale sign that he's worried.

No – scared.

Or – confused.

Perhaps all three.

"I _know _you didn't kill her. You're willing to be executed on false charges?! Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes," he says, voice as level as always. "You can't stop it, Aura."

"It's not fair!" Aura erupts, and slams a fist against the glass dividing them in her desperation. "None of it's fair at all!"

"You're acting like a child."

"I'm your older sister! I've been trying to _help _you, but you just won't **fucking **listen, will you?"

Aura's almost on the verge of tears, but she won't let herself show it in front of Simon. Not now. Not yet.

Because she's angry and frustrated and so, so _tired, _and the only person left in the world who can calm the storm that's been brewing in her for seven years is sitting in front of her, separated from her by an unmovable barrier (in more ways than one), refusing to talk to or even look at her.

"Go home, Aura," Simon finally says, the epitome of calmness, but Aura knows the truth. She knows him – she _knows_ him – and she can tell that he's hurting, too. She knows there are things he's not saying for some stupidly honorable reason, and it tears her up inside, that she might lose someone else important to her.

That incident seven years ago has taken so many things from Aura, and she refuses to let it take her brother away for good, too.

"You've been rotting in this shithole for seven years," Aura hisses venomously, and slams her fist against the glass again for emphasis.

"You've been fucking - wasting _away_ here, losing the best years of your life, because you're taking the blame for someone who doesn't deserve any mercy. Why won't you talk to me?"

"Because you won't be able to do anything about it, anyway," Simon rationalizes, and Aura can feel the conflict inside him grow more hectic, no matter how much he tries to disguise it, because he is her little brother and she's the only one in the world allowed to hurt him.

"You can't help me," he continues, and on the tabletop, Aura sees his palms curl into fists. "You refuse to have anything to do with the court system, and the only way that I could possibly be saved if the case was taken to court again. And, even then, the evidence stacked against me would probably guarantee an instant conviction – yet again."

Aura stares for a moment, and suddenly, an idea begins to take shape in her mind.

"Taken to court, huh?"

Simon stares at her. "Are you planning something?"

"No."

"Liar. Look, Aura, if you're going to do something drastic – "

"I won't if you just _tell me _what happened!"

"No. I've told you. You can't do anything."

"All this time and you haven't said a word. It's even turning your hair gray!"

Aura stands up in her furor, glaring down at him.

"I don't have anything to say, Aura," Simon says, voice suddenly wearier, and she hates seeing him so pitiful. "Why don't you go home and play with your dolls?"

"Well, even if _you _don't, I have plenty, you jerk!" Aura shouts, desperate to get a rise out of him, but, as usual, it doesn't work. He's always been better at masking his emotions.

The silence following her words allows the detective to cut in, and he does, looking bashful. "M – Ms. Blackquill, don't you think that's enough for today?"

She turns to him quickly, whirling around to say loudly in his face: "Enough for today?! Today is all there is when there's no tomorrow!"

Simon's eyes drift over to somewhere behind Aura, and a small, slightly forced smirk appears on his face. "We have company, Aura. Please try to calm down."

Aura's hands turn to fists as she turns her back on him. "All right, fine. I see you're just not going to listen, no matter what I say. I've had it. If that's the way you're going to be, I have another plan up my sleeve."

Her next words are perhaps the most painful ones she's ever had to say.

"I hope you're happy, Simon, because I'm done! Do as you please! See if I care!"

She storms out, past the blue lawyer who's just entered, and slams the door behind her. As soon as she's out of the detention center, Clonco whirrs up to her from where he's been waiting.

"**MISS AURA, HOW WAS YOUR VISIT - ?"**

"Shut it, Hunk of Junk," Aura says authoritatively, and slaps the robot on the head. "I have a plan to save my idiot brother, and it's very important that it be executed perfectly, so don't fuck it up."

"**YES, SIR, MISS AURA.**"


End file.
